Think of Me Fondly
by Fiyeraaron
Summary: "Love is the emblem of eternity; it confounds all notion of time: effaces all memory of a beginning, all fear of an end."- Madame de Stael. AU 5 paragraph one-shots featuring our beloved revolutionaries; Éponine and Enjolras.
1. Chapter 1

She's in prison. Has been for 3 months now. It wasn't anything big, her and her boyfriend Montparnasse drunkenly thought it'd be goddamn hilarious to steal the town monument: a great big stone barricade symbolising the uprising of 1832. They hid it in the woods, hidden behind a big rush of trees. Apparently there's CCTV or something that caught them pushing it off of the stand and through the town centre.

He's the prison guard. He didn't know her until the day she came up to him in the lunch room and asked him where her boyfriend was. He was the bearer of bad news, obviously, and has to break it to her that her good ol' boyfriend was in hospital for getting into a fight with the biggest guy in his section. He sees a look of amusement in her eyes as she whispers '_'Parnasse_' under her breath with a small smile on her face, shaking her head simultaneously. They eat lunch together then, since she has no one else to share it with.

They meet every lunch time after that, it looks weird to the other prisoners, and she gets called a suck up by all the other girls in her quarters. She simply gives them the finger, it's not her fault that the handsome jail warden thought she was hilarious. Slowly but surely, it becomes a tradition.

He falls for her, because that's what happens in all great romances. She still has a boyfriend, but he likes to pretend that maybe, just maybe, she's falling for him too. He starts giving her advantages, things he could get sacked for. He lets her have extra breaks, and every now and again she gets to come into his office and laugh at his baby photos that his mother made him pin to the wall. He kisses her in his office too, and she doesn't resist. They begin to forget that she's not already taken, and that it's them two that are together. He starts wishing that her boyfriend will be in hospital for a while longer. Until one lunch time when he's already sat down at their table, an apple for himself, and a packet of pick'n'mix that he smuggled in for her. She walks into the white room with Montparnasse, and he swears he can feel his heart break in two. The couple sit down together on the bench Éponine usually accommodates alone. She announces that they get to leave at the end of the week, 2 days left of living in this hell hole. He smiles at her, happy that she can finally leave. He's always been good at hiding his emotions from people.

He doesn't quite think it's real when it happens. He tries to block it from his mind, pretending that maybe she was just joking around. She always teases him, he never thought it could potentially make his heart hurt in his chest. On the day she leaves, he watches her through the window of his office. Her and the boyfriend guy are walking out, his arm over her shoulder. When the gates lock them out of the prison, he turns his head bitterly and walks over to sit at his desk. There, tucked under her file, is a picture of her and her brothers and sisters that she told him about, all of them smiling widely at the camera. On the back of the Polaroid is her mobile number and the phrase '_see you later, prison boy_'_._


	2. Chapter 2

He's an organised crime boss. His father was a lawyer, so from an early age he was taught what was right and what was wrong. Bringing down criminals was his life mission and he found the pleasure of getting convicts thrown into prison incomparable. His last act was a guy called Grantaire, an art thief. He would steal a famous painting, then leave a scratchy 'R' in its place. He was now in prison for 9 years.

There's a group called the Patron Minette. They're good at what they do, and have been doing so for 13 years. He knows all of them by face, knows their ages, knows where each and every one of them were last seen. It's a mystery how they do it, really. They unabashedly steal money from the rich, but, unlike Robin Hood, they don't give it to the poor. They keep it for themselves, using it to splurge on fancy houses all over the world and keeping their tracks covered, never staying too long in one place.

There's the leader, Thenardiér; Claqsueous, the bodyguard; Brujon, the brains of the group; Babet, the one who bribes people into not telling of their whereabouts; Montparnasse, the young murderer; and... Well, they're not quite sure what the young girl is called. She's Thenardiér's daughter, that's for sure. All they know is that she's romantically involved with Montparnasse, and that she's no more than 16. He knows what she looks like, however, and he's determined to find out who she is. She hasn't been directly involved in any of their crimes, but she obviously has information; information that they need.

He actually isn't looking for her when he finds her. He's actually getting a coffee in his local coffee shop, La Musain. He didn't expect her to be in Paris still, as her family and coworkers were last seen in England, but he isn't complaining. He bumps into her, and, as soon as she sees him, she stops in her place. He guesses that her dad has drilled into her brain all the police men who are trying to hunt them down. Nonetheless, he sees her, she sees him, and for about 5 seconds, they just stare at each other, stupidly close.

He hadn't expected her eyes to be so brown, and if anyone ever finds out that he saw her, he would never admit that he was captivated by them. But he sees the look of utter fear and panic in her brown eyes and it stirs something weird in his chest, something he likes to push down. So, when she turns around and darts out the door of the coffee shop, he lets her go. He feels a type of pain in his chest that he's never felt before, as though he missed some sort of opportunity, something that's never happened before. She turns back once, looking at him through the window. She looks surprised to find out that he isn't following her, that he's simply stood in the same position as when they bumped into each other. She's getting pushed along by the rush of passers by, so he gently smiles at her and that's it.


	3. Chapter 3

**_For Amelie Enjolras; I hope this is what you meant- if not, please, send me another prompt, I'll be happy to fulfil it._**

* * *

They've been together for four years when he realises. Four years of Éponine and love and happiness. Sure, they argue- obviously, it's _them_- but they always reconcile in the best way possible. But after four years of dating, he wants something more. Not that what they have isn't great, because really, _really_, it's great. But when she smiles at him from her seat in the café when he's making a speech, or when she forces him to dance with her all night at Marius and Cosette's wedding, he thinks that he wants something a little more permanent.

He suggests it to his friends one day. Tells them of his plans, asks them what they think. Courfeyrac nods approvingly, winking at him. Combeferre smiles at him, telling him he will help. He swears he hears Jehan squeal, but it's at Gavroche's small smile and nod that he realises that he is actually going to do this.

He thinks of ways to do it, Combeferre says that it has to meaningful and significant. Marius somehow found out and he keeps trying to give him ideas, but he really doesn't think Éponine would want to be proposed to_ in a hot air balloon_- if Marius would pay attention, he would realise that Éponine was afraid of heights. Combeferre thinks a picnic in the park, Courfeyrac thinks a romantic meal at an expensive restaurant. Jehan's plans are even more extravagant than Marius', so he resorts to asking the only other person besides himself that knows Éponine intimately. Gavroche tells him to do it at their apartment, informally and quite low-key. In hindsight, he wonders how he didn't think of that in the first place.

He waits for her to get in from work on the Friday night, he's nervous and he keeps panicking, constantly feeling a phantom absence in his jeans pocket where the ring box is stuffed. He's got her favourite film on, has ordered the pizza (Éponine wouldn't want anything else), and is sat on their red sofa, waiting patiently. He doesn't want to give anything away, Éponine loves surprises (hates the suspense before, loves it afterwards), so he tries to calm himself down.

But then she walks through the door, greeting him with a smile, and his heart stops in his chest. She puts her bags down, takes her coat and shoes off, before coming and sitting next to him, and he realises she looking at him suspiciously. He thinks that, yes, maybe it does look a bit weird- him, sat alone, staring at the opening menu of RENT, not saying anything. He's an idiot when it comes to her (words failed him when he asked her to be his girlfriend, there's no difference now), and his throat is dry, and his brain has gone numb, and she looks so beautiful in that red dress that he loves so much, that he just takes the ring out of his pocket wordlessly, opens it to her with a shaky hand and looks up at her nervously, wide eyes and mouth forced shut. Of course the great orator would totally lose the ability to speak at such an important moment. But she looks into his eyes and suddenly she's laughing and smiling and hugging him and nodding and the ring is somehow on her finger and he's just utterly and completely happy


End file.
